by Ryan Casey
Every now and then, as the smell of the rainy earth wafted into his face, he swore he heard voices inside that hot dog stall. He gritted his teeth and imagined them all enjoying their time with each other like they were friends.
Kill them. Butcher them. Kill them all.
Not Spud. What did Spud do?
He fucking betrayed you.
But he was just scared!
HE FUCKING BETRAYED YOU BUTCHER THE CUNT.
Kane shook his head. Steadied his breathing. The voices in his head were always loudest when he was alone on a rainy night. Took him back to the times he used to hide out at the bottom of his garden from his stepdad. The times he’d sit behind the shed, with the worms and the slugs all around him, just hoping his stepdad wouldn’t come out there and find him.
But he did. He always did.
And whenever he did, he’d sure make Kane know how mad he was.
He felt goose pimples spread up his skin as he remembered what his stepdad used to do. Sometimes, he’d go out and check inside the shed, then check the whole garden, and even check out on the streets. He’d go back inside, and poor naïve little Kane would actually think he’d escaped.
Of course, his stepdad always did find him.
He saw now that his stepdad was just toying with him all along. All a part of the game.
He took in a deep breath. Banished the memories.
There was no more time for games. He was the one starting the games now. He was the one having all the fun.
He made his way down the slope at the side of the country lane towards the hot dog stall. He tried to figure out the best way to go about this. Knock on the door and lure them out? Wait until they were sleeping then go inside and slit their throats, one by one? Or get up on the roof, draw them out, then lock them outside to be torn apart by the undead, keeping Spud to himself?
The thought of all those options was tempting.
But right now, more than anything, he wanted a quick release.
He kept on moving towards the hot dog stall, eager to just get inside and murder them one by one. He didn’t think of Spud as the Spud he knew anymore. Just another form of release. Just someone else he could enjoy.
He’d murdered the boy’s family. Had a hell of a lot of fun doing so.
Now it was Spud’s—
He heard a groan to his right.
He looked around. Saw three zombies emerging from the back of the hot dog stall. Their rigid fingers scraped against the metal, and their groans were loud enough for the people inside to hear.
Kane heard footsteps echoing closer towards the door.
He had to get away.
He had to hide.
He had to be invisible all over again—
The door opened…
MARTIN LOOKED out of the door at the undead wandering around in the dark.
It was pissing it down again. Sounded fucking awful against the roof of the hot dog stall. But hell, they were living in the apocalypse. Beggars couldn’t be choosers.
“Gonna go sort these guys out,” Martin said.
Inside the hot dog stall, he saw Bert and the kid, Spud, sitting at the little table at the opposite side of the room. Spud was properly worked up about something. Always had this worried look on his face. Creepy kid. He said he’d got away from some strange dude further down the road after that dude killed his whole family.
Shame, for the kids. They were the ones who really suffered in this mad world.
“You sure you have to?” Bert asked.
Martin looked out at the three undead. They were well-decayed, the older, slower kind. They were wandering around aimlessly, which was weird. But then their behaviour had been weird lately. There was nothing normal about them.
“I don’t have to. But I don’t want ’um keeping me up all night.”
He pulled out his crossbow and stepped out into the torrential rain.
He walked right up to the first of the undead, lifted his crossbow and fired it right through its rotting neck.
Then he walked up to the next undead. Pointed the crossbow at its head, using the bright light of the moon as guidance. He waited for it to turn around, then fired.
He went to fire at the third one when it dropped to the ground right before him.
Martin frowned. Goosebumps crept up his skin. Weird. He swore it’d been walking just seconds ago. Why had it dropped? What the hell was going on?
He walked around the front of it, keeping his crossbow raised as his feet splashed through the puddles.
When he saw the front of the undead, he realised exactly why it’d fallen.
There was a little knife wedged in the undead’s head. A throwing knife.
Martin’s body went cold.
His muscles tensed.
It must’ve been thrown from behind.
He turned to look at the woods and he felt the sharp blade slam through his stomach.
He didn’t see who stabbed him. But when he looked down, he saw bloodied metal poking out of him. He felt warm breath on his ear. Smelled it, sweet and putrid.
“You never take anything from me,” the man’s voice said. “Ever.”
And then he pulled the blade away and Martin dropped to the road…
KANE LET the release of murder invade his senses.
It felt good to kill again. The smell of dying. The taste of blood. All of it merged together so beautifully as he stood there in the pouring rain. It felt like he was showering in the blood of the people whose lives he’d ended. He wanted to stand here and enjoy this sensation a little longer.
But then he heard footsteps in the hot dog stall and knew he still had work to do.
The second man was going to die.
Spud was going to die.
He’d tasted a release, and now he wanted more. Now he wanted…
The hot dog stall door flew open before Kane had a chance to run away.
The second man peered outside into the moonlit scene. Kane saw the look of shock on his face as he looked at the fallen undead, at his friend, lying together on the road.
“You killed him,” the man said. He looked from his friend to the undead to Kane, and then back again. “You—you fucker. You fucking killed him.”
Kane reached for his machete. He knew he was going to have to stay calm. He wasn’t in the mood for another bolt to the head.
But how was he going to get out of this?
What was he going to do?
The man took a step out of the hot dog stall. Stood right by the open door. In the distance, Kane heard more groans, and in the corner of his eye, he saw more zombies approaching in the moonlight.
The man raised his crossbow.
“Woah, now,” Kane said, raising his hands. “Things don’t have to get any more violent.”
“You sick fuck. You sick fuck.”
“Just give me what’s mine, and I’ll let you live. I’ll walk away.”
“You don’t get to fucking walk away.”
“I’ll repeat what I just said. Give me what’s mine, and I’ll—”
“I’ve had it with you. twat,” the man said.
His finger tightened.
Kane’s body tensed and waited for the impact of the crossbow.
But it didn’t arrive.
The man’s finger loosened. The crossbow lowered.
Blood sprayed out of the man’s throat.
He dropped to his knees. Blood poured out of his neck, glistening in the moonlight.
As Kane stood there and watched this man live his final few painful moments on earth, he couldn’t help smiling at the person standing behind him.
He couldn’t help feeling a glimmer of pride for what he’d created.
“I’ve done it,” Spud said, tears rolling down his exhausted little face. “I’ve done it.”
He looked right into Kane’s eyes.
A bloody knife dangled from his hand as the man choked his final breath.
CHAPTER NINE
Chlo
ë didn’t know what to do as she watched the men called Mattius and Jai edge Riley across the roof of the multi-storey car park.
She looked around at the people watching as the two men pushed Riley towards the edge. Some of them looked like good people. Only a few of them had guns, another few had weapons, but they didn’t look like they knew how to use them much.
She could take them. She could take them all if she wanted to.
After all, to them, she was just a kid. Just a kid with one arm and a scarred face.
Nobody feared the kid with one arm and a scarred face until the kid ripped their throats open.
She’d already prepared in case of emergencies. She’d already put some plans in place.
She felt warmth wriggling in her arm. She looked down and saw Kesha smiling up at her. Chloë smiled back. She liked Kesha a lot. Kesha made her feel good again. Even though she didn’t really like babies or other kids, Kesha was different. Kesha was special.
And that was another reason she had to be careful right now.
She looked up at Jordanna, saw the tears rolling down her face. She looked different since she’d found her and Riley again. Like bad things had happened to her; even worse things than had already happened. She had her hand on Chloë’s back, and she just kept on moving it around, like she thought it might make Chloë feel better.
But really, Chloë knew Jordanna was doing it so she could feel better, too.
Chloë heard talking. She heard Mattius saying things to Riley. Saw the fear on Riley’s face as he looked down over the edge. It was a big drop. Chloë knew it was a big drop because she’d looked over there just before and it didn’t look good.
But she’d made plans. She’d put things in order.
She wanted to go over there and save Riley. Stop this happening. Yes, Riley had done some bad things. But so had she. So had everyone. She’d killed people. Good people. People she cared about. She’d caused disasters. She’d lost so much.
But through everything, Riley had stood by her. He’d saved her when she’d hung from that tree—when the buzzing noises in her head got too loud.
He was the reason she was here right now.
But Riley not dying meant one thing. One thing that scared her.
It meant she’d have to kill again.
She heard Kesha laugh in her arm. Felt her wriggle around.
“Ssh,” she said. “You be quiet.”
Kesha kept on wriggling, and as she did, she saw more of the people looking over. Some of them were smiling, like Kesha was taking them away from the horrible thing about to happen to Riley in front of them. That was another thing Chloë had going for her. Not only was she a one-armed, scar-faced little girl, but she had a baby with her.
She knew she could use that to keep herself alive.
To keep everyone she cared about alive.
But she didn’t want to do anything that might put Kesha in harm’s way.
She heard a few gasps, then. Felt Jordanna’s hand rubbing her back even harder.
When she looked at Riley, she knew why.
Jai was holding on to Riley’s back. He was lifting him over the edge. Dangling him down.
Chloë felt every muscle in her body tighten. She felt herself in Riley’s arms again, when he’d saved her not just from hanging herself when the buzzing noises got bad, but when he’d saved her from the middle of the woods.
Jai held him out further over the edge of the roof…
“Wait!”
Chloë wasn’t sure where the word came from. She hadn’t meant to blurt anything out.
But when she did, everyone around her turned.
Jai stopped moving Riley further over the edge. His focus was on Chloë now too.
Chloë felt her cheeks heating up. “Please,” she said. “I just—I just want to say goodbye. Please.”
She heard a few whispers. Then a few “awws”. And as she turned on the tears, she knew she was getting her way. She knew things were working out for her.
“I just want to hug him goodbye,” she said.
She saw the concern growing on Mattius’ face. Jai’s face blushed like he was growing more and more eager to drop Riley below.
Jai looked at Mattius. Mattius didn’t say anything in turn. He just nodded.
Jai sighed and pulled Riley back onto the concrete.
Chloë walked over towards Riley then, Kesha in her arm. She didn’t like what she was doing. She didn’t want to have to do this.
But there had to be a way out of this mess.
She stood opposite Riley and looked up into his eyes. She saw his confusion. He was asking her, mentally, what she was doing. What she was planning.
Chloë held out Kesha. “Say goodbye. To Kesha.”
“Hurry up, kid,” Mattius said.
Riley hesitated. He still looked puzzled. But eventually, he took Kesha.
“I’ll miss you,” Chloë said, handing Kesha over.
She gripped on to the little blade she’d stored inside Kesha’s nappy. The blade made from a sharpened fragment of her dad’s skull.
Sharpened to killing perfection.
And then she leaned close to Riley. Hugged him.
“Just trust me,” she whispered.
“Chloë, what’re you—”
“They won’t hurt her. Trust me.”
And then before Riley could say another word, Chloë backed away, Kesha still in Riley’s arms, and she looked up at Jai.
Jai narrowed his eyes. “Well? Aren’t you gonna take the baby back, princess?”
Chloë took a deep breath.
Smiled.
“I’m no princess.”
Then she rammed the sharpened skull right into Jai’s chest.
She heard the chaos then. Heard the panic. Saw people raising their guns, the crowd of unarmed civilians running away.
Then she looked around at Riley as she stood at the edge of the roof.
“I can make the drop. Just trust me,” she said.
Riley’s jaw dropped as he stood there, Kesha in his arms. “Chloë, I can’t—”
“Trust me.”
Chloë rushed over to the edge of the building.
She looked down. Held her breath.
Then she closed her eyes and dropped below.
CHAPTER TEN
Cody tasted blood.
It was dark. He didn’t know where he was, whether he was inside or outside, just that it was dark. He could hear voices mumbling. Serious pain split through his skull, right down the back of his neck and his body. He didn’t know how he’d got here. What’d led him to this point. He didn’t know anything at all.
All he knew was he loved Kelly and Sasha. He wanted to keep them safe.
All he knew was…
He tasted vomit.
The memory flashed through his mind. The memory of little Kelly crouching over Sasha, blood on her hands.
He saw the demonic look in her eyes.
“And you’re not well either.”
He saw himself holding that gun and crying as he fired a bullet through her head.
Then it all flooded back to him. The memories since then. The fall of the MLZ. Fleeing with Hassan. Getting captured by another group, then ending up with Maryam and her group.
He remembered Maryam’s story about the world she came from. The good world outside of Britain where people were still going about normal lives.
And then Steve. Steve arriving with his talk of an extraction point, his stories of a way out.
And then Maryam’s death.
And this…
“He’s awake.”
Cody heard the voice clearly.
When he opened his stinging eyes once more, he saw Gav crouching opposite him.
“You’re a lucky fucker,” Gav said, looking right into Cody’s eyes. “Like, a seriously lucky fucker. You know how much of a lucky fucker you even are?”
Cody wanted to speak, but he didn’t have the strength to. He wanted to tell Gav he didn�
�t have to do this. He didn’t have to carry on with whatever he was doing.
And he wanted to tell Gav he was sorry, too.
Sorry for what’d happened to Maryam. To their leader.
But they’d come this far because they’d heard Steve’s story of extraction. Maryam had trusted Cody, and she’d led the group out here.
Sure, Cody felt guilty. Extremely guilty. But it was always a risk. If you weren’t willing to take a risk in the name of faith, then what was the point of anything anymore?
“You killed her,” Gav said. “You led us out here like a bunch of stupid fuckers and you killed her.”
Cody coughed, desperate to speak once more.
Gav lifted his chin and looked right into Cody’s eyes. “You know, I never liked you. Not since the first moment we met. Always figured there was something off about you. Like you got fucking ideas in your head way above their station.”
“I just…”
“What? What’s that? Speak up. Speak the fuck up.”
Cody wanted to. He really wanted to.
But he couldn’t.
Speaking up might just kill him.
“Right,” Gav said, nodding. “Didn’t think so.”
It was then that Cody realised there were more people around. Friends of Gav’s, and those who hadn’t previously associated themselves with Gav.
And at the other side of the room, he saw Steve.
Steve was on his knees. His hands were tied up, and so too were his ankles. He looked beaten and bruised, and Cody knew right then that they’d given Steve some of the same treatment he’d received.
“See, your friend over here really, really won’t talk. We tried being nice. And then we tried being nasty. But he just won’t open his damned lips and tell us where the extraction point is.”
Cody looked into Steve’s bloodshot eyes as Gav’s footsteps echoed around the room. A room, yes. Cody knew he was inside some boarded up old room now. The air was damp, a stench of rot hanging on his every breath.
“You see, I’d love to kill this fucker right here. In fact, I’d love to kill the both of you fuckers. But we need one of you alive.”
Gav turned around and looked right at Cody. Cody knew what that meant.
Gav pulled his foot back and kicked Cody right in his head.
Cody’s head flew back. It cracked against the solid wall behind. The back of his head wracked with pain, so he figured he must’ve already taken a few of those kicks.